A Lover's Howl
by lanelane2
Summary: Let me take you back. Back before Humphrey and Kate's big adventure and introduce you to something special. So special it can determine who is you're true love by a single howl, its called a Lovers Howl. With this in mind, what will happen when Kate comes back from Alpha school and Humphrey falls for her and uses the howl, and what are its consequences? Read and see!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, lanelane2 here with ANOTHER story. Finally had time to finish this just in time to meet my deadline, so yay! This story actually was an idea that was brought to me by ChaosFox60 and i like it so i decided to go for it. Its an interesting concept and i hope you enjoy it. Now, i will make 1 thing clear right now, me writing this story will not interfere with my other story so dont get worried, anyways i digress, its story time!**

**Until next chapter-lanelane2**

A Lovers Howl

_Maybe…_Humphrey thought. Humphrey was walking but stopped for a moment to analyze his surroundings, there was a small river running nearby with its little white ruffles from the water that lie beneath its surface. To his left there was a tall, shady oak that sat swaying in the breeze and to his right was a big stone slab, the stone slab he and his omega buddies always used to howl on at the moonlight howl.

_Maybe...just maybe…I can howl with her._ He smiled at his hopeful thoughts, it was a perfect night for a howl, the moon shimmering in all of its reflective glory. He had waited the most agonizing spring of his life, a whole spring without her…_Kate._

"You're getting that look again Humphrey," said a voice behind him. Humphrey shook himself of his thoughts and turned to see his three friends standing in front of him, with rather concerned faces.

Humphrey made a dismissive noise, "What look, I mean…I don't have a look." He said defensively.

"Yes you do," Said Shakey, "it doesn't matter how long she was gone, you're still after her?" Shaky asked shaking his head.

"First off, Im impressed," Humphrey said, mentioning the fact that Shaky knew what he was thinking of. "and second, of course I'm still going for her. I mean nothing has changed between us."

All of his friends seemed to step forward, which caused him to take a step back, so that now his back was against the cold hard howling stone. "Humphrey, man, I don't think you get it. She's an Alpha now! You're still an omega, so guess what that means?"

Humphrey smiled, "What?"

"That means she cant hang out with us any more, she got all of her 'Alpha Responsibilities.'" Said Mooch. Humphrey shook his head, thinking his friends were idiots.

"No way, we were all friends with Kate and I'm sure that she's still friends for us," Humphrey said, though his friends didn't look convinced. Just as he finished his testimony, Kate and Lilly came walking out of a bush nearby, chatting away and giggling.

Humphrey smiled even bigger, _Now's my chance to prove them wrong! _"Watch and learn boys!" Kate and Lilly walked over and began drinking from the river. Humphrey pushed his way through his friends and began to approach the chatting females. As he walked forward he studied his friend, and recent crush, and was awed at the beauty of her light brown fur as it seemed to shimmer for the moonlight that hit it. Kate's mouth moved and her eyes said that she was in deep conversation with her sister. Humphrey walked right up behind Kate, trying his best to hide his footsteps. He crept closer and closer until he was barely able to hear their conversation. He laughed to himself, imagining her reaction to him scaring her.

"So, what's Garth like?" Lilly asked. Humphrey scrunched his face up and frowned, _Garth? Who the heck is Garth?_ Humphrey stopped crawling towards Kate to hear Kate's response. He heard Kate sigh and turn and hang her head, in doing so Lilly was able to see him creeping up from behind. Humphrey met Lilly's eyes, Lilly opened her mouth to say something but Humphrey put a paw to his lips and clasped his hands together in a pleading motion. Lilly looked at him, obviously confused, so he did his best to portray that he was going to scare Kate. He apparently did a good job because Lilly giggled a little before Kate twitched, and then Kate raised her head.

Humphrey came a little closer, dying to know Kate's answer now. "I think he is just the most wonderful Wolf in the entire world, he's so strong and determined i…I just love him." Kate said, Humphrey almost yelled out loud. _She cant possibly be in love with him! I…She…GRRRRR! _Then his jealously began to creep in, _I've known her my whole life and she doesn't love me? How…i…Whoever this Garth guy is ill kill him!_

Kate kept her head fixed straight at Lilly, "Was that the answer you were wanting Humphrey?" Kate said as she turned to face Humphrey, who could only imagine the look of shock on his face.

"How…how…" He stood there dumbfounded, but sighed a little hoping that what Kate had said about this Garth guy was only to tease him.

"Oh come on Humphrey, you sound like stampeding caribou when you try to sneak around." She said laughing. She turned back to Lilly for a moment to say goodbye before Lilly walked off. Humphrey finally pulled himself together and sat down. Kate walked over and sat only a few feet away from him.

Humphrey ran through it in his mind, how did she know? He was fairly certain she couldn't have heard him, after all Lilly hadn't…and then he remembered how she had twitched. "Looking is not the same as hearing."

Kate laughed some more, which sounded sweeter than the best songbird in the forest to Humphrey. "Indeed, its not." They sat in silence for a moment. "Its great to see you again, its been so long."

Humphrey laughed this time, "A whole spring, I barley even noticed." He said kiddingly. "I can see it was worth it, look at how you've slimmed down." He said referring to how Kate face had slimmed down, and how her voice had gotten more endearing.

Kate snapped him a look of fire, "Are you saying I used to be fat!?" She said walking up to him.

Humphrey laughed some more, "No, no, no Kate. I was saying how…" He dropped out, thinking it would incredibly awkward for him to finish his sentence the way he had wanted to.

Kate backed off a little but not much, "What were you saying?" She asked raising her eyebrows.

Humphrey blushed though his fur and looked form left to right then back again, "I…I was just saying how beautiful you have become, that's all." He said shrugging. Humphrey knew how very wrong this was, an Omega flirting with Alpha…it was frowned upon.

Kate jumped forward a little more, "Be more clear with you're words!" She yelled at him. Humphrey glanced at the howling rock and saw his buddies exchanging berries, he assumed they were taking bets on how his conversation would turn out.

"Ok, sorry." He said, _why is she so frustrated me? _Kate sat back and sighed, he met her beautiful eyes and saw anger and something else, pain? When he noticed this his mind seemed to jump. _Ask her to howl with you, it'l make her feel better! _He was opened his mouth to speak when an auburn and white colored wolf, well if you could call this muscular hunk a wolf, walked into the clearing. The wolf began walking in the direction of Humphrey and Kate. Humphrey turned his head just as the wolf came up and nudged Kate.

Kate smiled as the wolf spoke, "There you are Kate, you're dad said I'd find you here." The wolf then seemed to notice Humphrey, "Who's, this?"

"Oh yes, Humphrey this is Garth, Garth this is Humphrey." She said. _Garth! This is him! _Humphrey silently swore to himself.

"Nice to meet you Humphrey, I hope you don't mind if I borrow you're chatting partner. The moon is just about to peak at the top of the howling rocks and we wouldn't want to miss it would we?" Garth said looking at Kate.

"Not for the world," Kate said. She turned to Humphrey, "Well it was great seeing you, maybe we can talk some more another time?" Humphrey studied her face, but found it rock solid. If there was something Kate was good at when she really wanted to be, it would be hiding her emotions.

"Yeah, sure." Humphrey grumbled before watching the two walk off towards the howling rock.

…

After listening to his friends banter him with the words, "We told you so!" Humphrey had decided it best to go talk to Winston. Winston, ever since he was a pup, had been the closest thing to a father he had. So he was good at putting things into perspective for Humphrey, as Humphrey hoped he would be able to do for his little predicament with Kate.

_Why was she so angry with me, are women really that sentimental about their weight? _Humphrey thought, _Maybe it wasn't me, maybe something bad happened earlier today… _he continued trying to convince himself that she wasn't angry with him all the way up until he heard Winston's voice. _Wait, I'm nowhere near his den thought… _Humphrey walked towards the sound of the voice and sure enough, in a small clearing standing next to a pitch black wolf was Winston.

"So, Mark, you mentioned you were having troubles with your mate, yes?" Winston asked.

Mark looked at him, "Yes, I can't tell if she is my true mate or not. She's wonderful in every way, don't get me wrong, but she just doesn't seem as interest in me as she used to be."

Winston seemed to think for a moment, "Have you ever heard of the Lovers Howl?" He asked.

Mark stopped and looked at him, "Only in pack legends and things of that nature." He said.

"Do you remember what it does?" asked Winston.

"Hmm," Mark thought, "It's a special howl released by a wolf who truly longs to find his true love, its said that the howl sounds like the worst howl ever to everyone except to the true love of the wolf whom released it, right?"

"Yes, that is correct. What if I were to tell you that the howl is more than legend and folk lore?" Winston asked.

Marks eyes grew wide, "Than I would ask how I would release such a howl?" He said, letting a smile settle over his face.

Winston smiled as well, He began to list off instructions, "Stand up straight, head back, shoulders forward." He said and Mark did as he was told. "Now comes the tricky part, for this howl to be a lovers howl, it cant come from any other place than the heart."

Mark raised an eyebrow, "I don't understand."

"What I mean is, you literally cant howl using your lungs or throat, you can only do from the heart." Mark was about to question him again when Winston cut him off. "You have to want to find your love with every essence of your being, and only then can you release a lover's howl." Mark then sucked in breath and was about to howl when Winston put a paw over his mouth.

"Lets not ruin everyone's night with a bad howl, shall we?" He said, "and remember, you are not to share this information with anyone else, got it?" Mark shook his head and the two departed towards the howling rock, leaving Humphrey to his thoughts.

_A howl that can determine true love? What a laughable thing! _He thought as he began to walk off, he found the same river that ran by the omega's howling rock and began to follow it in the other direction. _Such a thing can't exist! Besides, I found my true love already…or have i? _Humphrey thought about how he had tried to compliment Kate and all she did was get angry at him, and she seemed to absolutely love being with Garth so…Humphrey jumped up on top of a tall rock. _Then again_, He thought, _it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot would it now? _

He followed all the instructions Winston had said, Stand tall, head back, shoulders forward. He then looked up into the star filled sky. _I want to find my love, someone who will return my affection instead of denying it. Someone who will always be by my side, till the end. Someone that, cares about me… _He then took a deep breath, and let out THE WORST HOWL he had ever released. It sounded like a cat getting stabbed by another stabbed cat! It was Awful.

Well, Humphrey thought as his awful howl blasted out for every other wolf within ten miles to hear, he said it was to sound bad to everyone but the mate of the person who released the howl so…guess I did it right!


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, lanelane2 here with the next chapter of this story. Wow its been a go go go past few days for me, what with finishing one of my other stories and then this! I hope i can keep it up and keep you guys happy, and with that, here's the chapter.**

**Until the next chapter-lanelane2**

Kate's POV

_Why were you so mean to him? _Kate questioned herself with the thought. _What did he do to you, all Humphrey ever did was be nice to you, and the first day you get back he compliments you then you yell at him! _Kate growled at herself, how mean she could be.

_He made called me fat. That gives me the right to be angry! _She thought as her justification.

"You ok Kate?" She heard a voice ask. She turned and looked at the hunk next to her. She sighed because she knew she wouldn't be able to explain anything to him, after all her father had only introduced them this afternoon. Thinking back on it, Kate did find it rather strange how insistent her father was on making her meet him, though she quickly pushed it out of her head. _What do I have to be worrying about? A simple little yelling match between me and Humphrey!? _She almost laughed at the thought, after all she and Humphrey used to yell at each other all the time as kids. _He's an omega, he'll be fine._ She assured herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just ready to start howling." She said leaning up against Garth. Kate felt his warmth and realized something, this felt wrong…yet right. It felt wrong that she was with…well the guy of her dreams to be honest, and yet it felt right for the same reason. She tried to shake her bad feelings away but found they stuck. "So, Garth, I don't know hardly anything about you."

Garth looked at her with what seemed to be concern for a moment before speaking, "Oh yes, right. Well, I really enjoy fitness, working out lunges and such." He said flexing his muscles to Kate's pleasure.

"Anything else, anything a little more personal?" She asked, she realized that this question may have been a little un called for but then again maybe it would ease her mind.

"Well, umm…I like jokes." He said. Kate laughed thinking this was a joke as well, though from a quick glance at Garth she realized her mistake. _Work out and Jokes, what a great personality. _She though with partial sarcasm.

"That's nice…" She said smiling. Garth gave her a half smile back, then turned to face the path they were walking again, an awkward silence filling the air.

"What about you, what do you like to do?" Garth asked.

_What do I like to do? _She thought for a moment before answering, "I like to mess around some, but I also like to be serious when I have to be." She just finished as the two arrived at the base of the howling rock formation. She looked around and saw her father enter on the opposite side with an all black wolf. The two said their goodbyes and her father sauntered his way over to them

"Kate, Garth, I hope you're not getting yourselves in any trouble now." Winston said laughing.

Garth gave a nervous chuckle, Kate could tell that her father's presence intimidated him. "No sir, we were just getting ready to go howl actually."

Her father raised an eyebrow, "is that so?"

"Yes," Kate answered blandly.

"Well then," Winston said stepping aside, "Who am I to stop you." He said and the two leisurely walked past him and began climbing up the rocks to find a spot to howl. After about 10 minutes they managed to find one, it was on the east side, blocked off by two huge boulders with one entrance.

Kate now sat opposite to Garth, and looked at her howling partner. His orbs glowing in the moonlight, his hair rustling in the breeze, his muscles seemed to be almost popping out of his body.

"So…" Kate said awkwardly. "Do you want start or do you want me?"

"Ill start," He said very assertively.

Kate watched him suck in a huge breath of air, and raise his head to the stars. _I cant wait! _

Garth then began to howl, it sounded bad at first it sounded bad, like a squirrel getting hit with a car, but then a louder, more angelic howl filled the air. It sounded like all the good things in life, the sound of a kill hitting the ground, laughter, joy and fun. She felt her insides begin to buzz, her heart began to beat uncontrollably. It felt wonderful; it felt like she was in the embrace of a god almost. She then raised her head and began to howl as well, joining in with the majestic howl, she thought Garth was giving off.

Then, just as it had come, it had gone, like only a whisper. All that was left was the buzz in her body. She lowered her head and looked straight on at Garth, had he really givin off this wonderful sound? _I…I feel like I…love him._

Without a word she leaned forward and rubbed noses with Garth. Unable to hear all the shouts of complaint coming from outside the boulders.

Humphrey's POV.

A few seconds after he finished the worst howl of his life, Humphrey heard the howls from the rock formation.

He heard wolves shouting in complaint, trying to figure out who release a bad howl and after a few minutes he began to hear the bushes twigs snap heading in his direction. _If they heard it, than im sure my true love did to. _He quickly ran over and hid in a bush, watching the rock formation he was just on with anticipation. _Who was it going to be? _

A small voice inside him told him that she wasn't coming, but he quickly pushed it aside as he continued to watch the clearing. A few wolves came in here and there, first was Winston, then a whole group of black wolves, and finally Eve. _Where is she? Where is Kate? _He thought.

After a heated argument with one wolf trying to place blame on the other the group dispersed, and thankfully no one found Humphrey lurking in the bushes.

Winston and Eve were the last ones to go, after which Humphrey stood up and heard his back pop like a human rifle. He stretched out before walking back into the clearing, _It didn't work…I knew it!_ He thought before he turned and proceeded down the trail back to the omegas howling rock.

As he walked, Humphrey couldn't decide. He felt happy inside that he had been right about that old tale after all, but yet he still felt that he it should have worked. Something…something inside him said that it had…he just didn't know it yet.

"Look at old glum face over here," Humphrey heard from the bushes, he swiped his head left and right in search of the voice.

"You know what I think our friend here could use…" Humphrey then located the voice and recognized it all at the same time and began sprinting down the path as the voice yelled. "Wolf Pile!"

In an instant his friends all jumped on him at the same time, with big old Mooch toping it all off. Humphrey, in between his wheezes for air, was laughing. _Maybe tonight wont be so bad after all. _


End file.
